Executive Team

Wendy Stapleton, Chairman of the Board, Founder
Colleen deVeer, Director of Programming, Founder
Ginger Stickel, Executive Director, COO

Founders

Carina Crain
Colleen deVeer
Wendy Stapleton

Virtual Festival Staff

Samantha Ryan, Office Manager
Shari Angel, Programmer
Bears Rebecca Fonte, Programming Consultant
Antoine Bancharel, Print Traffic Coordinator
Lauren Clayton, Graphic Designer
Shamika Pandit, Social Media Coordinato
Amanda DiCicco, Development Coordinator
Lauren Stannard, VIP Concierge
Laura Schroeder, Volunteer Coordinator
Matt Stellwagen, Website Developer
Elaine Ubina, Photographer and EIC, Fairfield County Look
Erica Abrams, Falco Ink Team
Janice Roland, Falco Ink Team
Shannon Treusch, Falco Ink Team
PKF O’Connor Davies, Accounting Firm
Danielle Allen, Bookkeeper

Board of Directors

Ashley Bekton
Alison Davis
Colleen deVeer
Pamela Ford
Andrew Karpen
Joni Kimberlin Steele
James Matthews
Clay Pecorin
Wendy Stapleton
Christian Simonds
Kevin Sneddon
Mark Teixeira

Executive Board

Richard Brener
Jenna Bush-Hager
Jim Cabrera
Kate Clark
Kimberly Clarke
Gabriela Dias
David Duchovny
Doug Ellin
Susan Smith Ellis
Julie Fareri Zielinski
Bobby Friedman
Craig Gering
Kathie Lee Gifford
Jared Ian Goldman
Kim Habul
Beth Hall
Colin Hanks
Peter Hedges
Michael Imperioli
Laura Kutnick
Ann Lamont
David Levien
Mark Lindsay
Linda Munger
Clea Newman
Deborah Royce
Hannah Storm
Darnell Strom
Emily Wachtel

GIFF is honored to have the support of our Founding Members. Their generosity has allowed the Festival to offer free programming to the public, provide much needed support to filmmakers, make significant contributions to charity partners, and attract talented filmmakers and projects to the area.

Bradshaw-Mack Foundation (2015)
Barry & Barbara Carroll (2015)
Kate & Jim Clark (2018-2020)
Crain Family Foundation (2015-2019)
Colleen & Kipp deVeer (2015, 2019)
The Fareri Family (2015-2019)
Pamela & David B. Ford (2015, 2019)
Kenny & Kim Habul (2019-2020)
Elizabeth & Gene Hall (2020)
Darrell & Robin Harvey (2019)
Joni Steele Kimberlin (2019)
Dale & Laura Kutnick Foundation (2019-2020)
Jim & Jenny Matthews (2015)
Donald & Muffy Miller (2015)
Deborah & Chuck Royce (2015-2018)
Ras & Kristyna Sipko (2015-2018)
Wendy Stapleton (2015-2020)
The Stapleton Family Foundation (2015-2020)
Eleanor & John Sullivan (2015)
Mark & Leigh Teixeira (2015-2020)
Victoria & Mike Triplett (2015)

Host Committee

Stacy Messina, Chair
Jill Schecter, Chair

Kim Barnes
Courtney Belhumeur
Sue Bodson
Marisa Brown
Ginge Cabrera
Courtenay Carella
Kate Clark
Jacqueline Cohen
Alison Davis
Caitlin Davis
Ashley DeSimone
Gabriela Dias
Graci Djuranovic
Ilona Eken
Ayla Farnos
Kristina Gabelli
Kim Habul
Claire Haft
Ren Harman
Melissa Hawks
Susan Hinrichs
Elizabeth Hopley
Samantha Knapp
April Larken

Host Committee Continued

Eliza Niblock
Romona Norton
Nancy Ozizmir
Hadley Palmer
Bina Park
Marjorie Pastel
Serena Perlman
Sarah Pribyl
Jordan Rhodes
Mary Jo Riddle
Abby Ritman
Jennifer Roach
Danielle Robinson
Kim Salib
Annette Schuster
Kristyna Sipko
Riann Smith
Marissa Swann
Nikol Thompson
Laura Tobias
Victoria Triplett
Robyn Wasserman
Rebecca Anikstein
Jen Danzi
Jen Giordina
Natalie Kilts
Brooke Labriola
Nicola Steiner
Jen Weinstein

Special Thanks

Asher Almonacy
Jim and Ginge Cabrera
Bow Tie Criterion Cinemas
Grayson De Vere
Sebastian Dostmann
Whitney Longworth
Emily Martin
Elle Smith
Townhouse
Alek Ustin

Nancy Collet
Claudia Conine
Trent Cooper
Lynn Cunningham
Patrick Davin
Luis de Damas
David De la Cruz
Jeffrey Deskovic
Pototo Díaz
Arthur Egeli
Heather Egeli
Khalil El-Ghoul
Jamie Elias
Jonathan Ferguson
Cameron Fife
Lauren Flack
Linus Folini
Chris Gala
Julio Gambuto
Emily Garnet
Jennifer Giardina
Andrew Goldberg
Christy Gosnell
Dana Greenfield
Robert Gregory
Jonathan Hancock
Allison Harman
Matthew Heineman
Ethan Herisse
Samantha Herman
Oscar Hidalgo
Yukiko Hisano
Augustine Hong
Valerie Jensen

Caroline Johnson
Joseph Kaiser
Sandy Kenyon
Zak Kilberg
Kristen Klabin
Georgia Koch
Susan Koch
Toki Koinuma
Stanley Kolk
Takeshi Kushida
Kyja Kutnick
Varyk Kutnick
Nicole Lamberson
Eric Larson
Jin & May Leong
Josh Leong
Abigail MacLaren
Trishna Mahtani
Steven Mallorca
Sophie Mann
Esteban Mentasti
Muffie Meyer
Miguel Molina
Brian Morrison
Addison Neville
Dave Ohlmuller
Pedro Padilla
Angela Peacock
Devin Peluso
Adrienne Pender
Daria Price
Carlos Pulido
Wendy Ractliffe
Judith Richland

Ed Ruggerio
Sam Sandweiss
Vanesa Sanz
Ken Schur
Tom Scott
Andrew Scrivani
Hayley Segraves
Rebecca Shaw
Betsy Shiverick
Paul Shiverick
Dan Simon
Dave Simonds
Anne St. Hilaire
Mark Stafford
Rae Stone
Kathy Susca
Tom Sweitzer
Kanami Terasawa
Edgar Velez
Amy Wadford
Kim Waltrip
Jia Wertz
Michael Wertz
Michael Wickham
Jon Wilcox
Jeffrey Winter
Jenelle Wooldridge
Stephanie Yang
Joyce Yarrow
Bemnet Yemesgen
Erik Yingling
Mei Yokose
Sounil & Gracie Yu
Wayna